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Texas Cops Need Help Getting Rid Of 200,000 Pounds Of Weed

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By on News


Photo: McAllenTimes.com
Here’s about a ton of weed. Multiply that by 100 and that’s how much pot these Texans are sitting on.

​The Brooks County Sheriff’s Department has a marijuana problem. They’ve got 200,000 pounds of pot, and they’re complaining that it would be too expensive to destroy it.

“This is a problem that doesn’t seem to be going away and anything we can get to help us to dispose of these cases once they’re done and to get ready for the next one that are coming in would be a great help,” said Deputy Daniel Davila.
Something tells me Toke of the Town readers could be of great assistance to the deputy. After all, at a trying time like this, we all have to pitch in, people!
All of the confiscated cannabis comes from drug cases over the past decade, reports Manuel De La Rosa at KIII-TV. And for now, all that unwanted weed sits in some storage trailers, awaiting an uncertain fate.
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California Judge Rejects Effort To Keep Pot Shops Open

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register

​​A federal judge has rejected a request by four Orange County, California medical marijuana patients for a temporary injunction preventing the cities of Lake Forest and Costa Mesa from shutting down marijuana dispensaries.

The four patients — Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel — argued through their lawyer, Matthew Pappas, that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives disabled people a federally protected right to use medical marijuana if such use is legal under state law, report Erika I. Ritchie and Ellyn Pak at The Orange County Register.
The patients were asking the judge to temporarily stop the cities from taking further action against dispensaries; bar the cities from violating the rights of qualified patients under the ADA; avoid damages for past actions in violation of the ADA; and award attorneys’ fees.
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Pot Legalization Advocates Have Cash; Opponents Don’t

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Tax Cannabis 2010

​The pro-pot forces have money for California’s upcoming legalization battle, while the anti-weed contingent has little good news to report.

The November ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana for adult personal use in the Golden State got more than $200,000 in campaign contributions between January 1 and March 31, according to newly published electronic finance records.

Meanwhile, all the groups opposing legalization — like the Committee Against the Legalization of Marijuana — didn’t electronically file their contributions by the April 15 deadline, meaning they raised less than $50,000, the minimum amount that requires mandatory e-filing.

This could be good news for reformers, reports David Downs at East Bay Express.
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L.A. Begins Closing Hundreds Of Marijuana Dispensaries

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: Los Angeles Times
It’s the beginning of the end for hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries.

​Hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are being told they must shut down to comply with a recently passed city law.

More than 500 letters are expected to be mailed Tuesday to pot shops across the city, where hundreds of dispensaries opened in recent years as city officials struggled to approve a local regulatory ordinance, reports the Associated Press.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the ordinance on Friday that sets fees for dispensaries to remain open if they meet the new, stricter guidelines. About 187 dispensaries — all shops that opened before the council imposed a moratorium — have six months to comply.
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Oakland Faces Weed Shortage; City Council Declares Emergency

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By on Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Spark Report

​​I can remember weed droughts in the 1970s, and it was only the hippies complaining. Now the City of Oakland, California is prepared to renew its declaration of a “local public health emergency” stemming from a shortage of medical marijuana.

The routine declaration from the City Council was originally issued in 1998, according to city official Barbara Parker, and is meant to reinforce Oakland’s policy of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries and ordering police to effectively ignore pot offenses, reports David Downs at East Bay Express.
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Did NYC Mayor Lean On Billboard Co. To Reject Pot Arrest Ad?

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By on Culture, News

Graphic: Drug Policy Alliance

​New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an admitted pot smoker, isn’t acting too cool these days. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, a billboard company refused to run an ad regarding the cost of arresting marijuana smokers after pressure from the mayor’s office.

The DPA received notice from Titan 360, North America’s largest transit advertising company, that a billboard set to run on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for his out-of-control marijuana arrest policy will not be allowed to run.
The landlord refused the ad because of “political circumstances from the Mayor’s office,” according to an email from a Titan 360 account executive.
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More Than Half Of CA Voters OK With Candidates Smoking Pot

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By on Culture, News

Photo: NORML
Our past three Presidents have admitted they smoked weed. And more than half of California voters are OK with that.

​​A new poll shows that as many California voters are fine with candidates for political office smoking pot recreationally, as those who aren’t.

The 41-page poll (PDF), from Capitol Weekly and Problosky Research, found that 50.6 percent of likely primary election voters were either “much more likely” to vote for a candidate who was a recreational user of marijuana (4.3 percent), “slightly more likely” (2.5 percent), or, with the largest group, marijuana use would make no difference (43.8 percent).
A total of 46.4 percent said marijuana use would make them either “somewhat less likely” to vote for a candidate (12.4 percent) or “much less likely” (34 percent).
The pollsters asked 751 likely voters via telephone earlier this month whether knowing that a candidate recreationally uses marijuana would affect their vote.
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San Diego Man Getting His Weed Back From The Cops

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By on Medical, News

Photo: Eugene Davidovich
Eugene Davidovich on getting his weed back: “Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?”

A judge Friday morning ordered the San Diego Police Department to return all property seized from medical marijuana patient and provider Eugene Davidovich, including the dried marijuana and concentrated cannabis seized more than a year ago, in February 2009.

“Although I don’t agree with this, I have no choice but to return the property of Mr. Davidovich,” said Judge David Szumowski. 
“After receiving a refusal from the District Attorney’s office to comply with our letter of demand for the return of all my property, today we were forced to spend more of our resources as well as the taxpayers’ resources on frivolous litigation caused by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s bias and hate towards medical marijuana,” Davidovich said.
“Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?” Davidovich asked.

Davidovich, the former defendant in a San Diego medical marijuana trial, said the office of  the District Attorney was wrongfully holding his belongings, despite his acquittal by a jury.
Eugene became a spokesman for local medical marijuana patients when his home was raided and four charges brought against him. According to Davidovich, the reason he had to go back to court to get his belongings is likely political.
Davidovich was one of 37 people charged with criminal offenses during Operation Endless Summer in 2008. He was unanimously found not guilty by a jury on March 25.
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NCAA Suspends UNLV Basketball Star For Pot; Group Cries Foul

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By on Culture, News


Photo: Las Vegas Sun
Matt Shaw’s college basketball career is ending because of one positive test for marijuana. If he had gotten drunk instead, he wouldn’t have been punished.

​Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws (NSML) has decried the NCAA suspension of University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) basketball player Matt Shaw for one year — ending his career with the team — because of one positive test for marijuana.

Shaw, a 6’8″ junior who was fourth on the team in scoring last year, tested positive during a “random drug test” administered during the recent NCAA tournament.
“At the age of 22, Matt is an adult,” said Dave Schwartz, NSML campaign manager. “As an adult, he made a rational decision to use a substance less harmful than alcohol. Now, for this simple act, his career with the Runnin’ Rebels is over.”
“We hope all Nevadans will stop to think about this for just one moment — and think specifically about the fact that players who drink alcohol to excess face no punishment, at least until they assault someone,” Schwartz said. “It simply makes no sense.”
“And for those who say, ‘He should have just followed the rules,’ we say, ‘Why do we have rules and laws that horribly punish people who choose to use marijuana instead of the more harmful substance, alcohol?'”, Schwartz said.
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Private Club In Colorado Allows Marijuana Use On-Site

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By on News

Graphic: Party Pelican
The voters of ski haven Breckenridge, Colorado legalized up to an ounce of marijuana last November. Now they have their first smoke-easy.

​If you’re 21 or older, you can get high at a private club on Main Street, Breckenridge, Colorado — but town officials are considering a law to prohibit marijuana consumption at such venues.

For a monthly fee, members of Club 420 in Towne Square Mall can rent or buy vaporizers in an exclusive lounge, reports Robert Allen at Summit Daily News. Marijuana is not sold at the club, which neither permits or prohibits use of the herb.
The club opened on April 20. Owner Collette Wilson said it is not connected with medical marijuana dispensaries. Members must be at least 21 and agree to the club’s rules.
“(Members) also agree not to inquire, seek or try to receive any cannabis from any of my employees,” Wilson said.
Wilson, a former middle and high school math teacher (where was she when I was learning math?), said the club offers a better alternative to “cars with smoke billowing out — to me, that’s inappropriate,” she said.
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